MONTANA. 



F 731 
.U56 
Copy 1 




PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1891. 




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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
1891. 



Copyright, 1891, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 






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MONTANA. 



Montana, one of the north-western states of the 
American Union, extends from 104° to 116° W. long., 
and from 44° 15^ to 49° N. lat., and is bounded N. by 
the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Assiniboia, E. 
by North and South Dakota, S. by Wyoming and 
Idaho, and W. by Idaho. In area— 146,080 sq. m., 
or nearly five times the size of Scotland — it ranks 
third among all the states and territories, but in popu- 
lation only 44th: Delaware is 71 times less, and has 
one-fourth more inhabitants. 

The Rocky Mountains, with their subsidiary ranges, 
occupy fully one-fifth of the surface, in the south and 
west; the rest of the state is made up of valleys or 
high, rolling prairies, treeless, but yielding nutritious 
grasses. The head-waters of two of the largest rivers 
in North America — the Columbia and Missouri — 
have their sources in Montana. The mean elevation 
of the state is about 3000 feet; the average height of 
the Rocky Mountains — whose sides are covered with 
dense forests of pine, fir, and cedar — is about 6000 
feet, while the highest peaks rise to 10,000 or 12,000 
feet. The Yellowstone National Park (q.v.) forms 
part of the southern boundary of the state. In the 



4 MONTANA. 

south-east the Bad Lands extend into the state from 
Wyoming (q.v.). The dimate of Montana is more 
moderate than that of the Dakotas and Minnesota, 
since the warm westerly winds prevail more than the 
north winds in winter here ; there are but few exces- 
sively cold days, and, as there is little moisture in the 
air, the winters are less chilly and more exhilarating 
than in the east. The atmosphere is remarkable for 
its clearness, and cyclones are unknown. 

The soil of Montana contains all that is needed for 
sustaining vegetation, but it is almost valueless with- 
out irrigation ; with that, however, the yield of grains 
and vegetables is enormous. There are already hun- 
dreds of irrigating ditches within the state, and the 
federal government is locating storage reservoirs all 
along the Rocky Mountain range, to store water for 
this purpose from the melting snows in spring-time. 
It is calculated that 20,000,000 acres of land can thus 
be brought under cultivation. Placer mining being 
practically exhausted, a large part of the population 
has turned its attention to stock-raising, for which 
Montana is better suited than for agriculture. The 
prairies produce several varieties of bunch grass, 
which cures on the stalk in August, and retains all its 
nourishing qualities throughout the year; stock on 
the range receive no other feed, summer or winter, 
and very little shelter is required. 

But the great industry of Montana is the mining 
and reduction of her gold, silver, lead, and copper 
ores. Her minerals first attracted emigration, and 
have hitherto been her principal wealth. The first 
systematic working of placer mines for gold com- 



MONTANA. 



5 



menced in 1862; in 1863 the first gold-quartz mill 
was built. According to the U. S. Treasury Reports, 
the total value of gold and silver produced in Mon- 
tana from 1862 to and including 1889 was: gold, 
;^i78,589,42i; silver, ;^ 108,992,3 19; total, ;^287,58i,- 
740. The annual value of the lead produced is over 
;^ 1,000,000. The total yield of copper up to 1882 
was 4044 long tons; in 1882-89 it was 215,992 tons. 
The value of these four metals in 1889 exceeded 
^^40,000,000. 

History. — The portion of Montana east of the Rocky 
Mountains was part of the Louisiana Purchase; that 
lying to the west formerly composed a part of Oregon 
and Washington states. It was first visited by the 
French in 1742-43, and by Lewis and Clarke in 
1804-6; these were followed by fur-traders and trap- 
pers, and by Jesuit missionaries, who established 
schools for Indian boys and girls. Gold was discov- 
ered in 1 86 1, and mining began in earnest the following 
year. In 1864 the territory was organised, and on 8th 
November 1889 Montana became a state of the Union. 
Education, for a frontier state, is well organised, and 
the exhaustion of the placer mines and the spread of 
railways have contributed to drive away the worst 
elements of the early population and replace them 
with industrious settlers. The chief towns include 
the capital, Helena (q.v.), Butte City (10,701), and Vir- 
ginia City. Pop. (1870)20,595; (1880)39,159; (1890) 
131,769, including some 1 500 Chinese and 12,500 In- 
dians. Troubles with the latter have been frequent : 
in 1876 General Custer (q.v.), and his command were 
all killed on the Little Big Horn by the Sioux. 



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